best gate for big ground without queue chaos !

[myers]

this is my 3 rd glastonbury.... have been through gate A before, that was ok,  but last year we were heading for big ground, so decided on gate B, arrived around 03.00am and joined the queue snaking around the top field .....it was ok until around 07.00-08.00am when everyone that had just arrived marched all the way to the front and caused chaos ! and long delays.. when finally in the more enclosed area off the queue heading towards the entrance lots off people i was talking to were in front off me in the queue and arrived at 08.00am! which pissed me off abit tbh! 

I'm heading for big ground again this year, but thinking off trying gate C , i don't mind queuing etc..and i will be arriving around 03.00am again.... as long as theres at least some kind of order ! and not a load of selfish idiots charging to the front !  any one with more experience that can advise or was that gate B farce last year a one off ? 

[gillybean90]

There's probably no way of actually predicting what each gate will be like each year. Different year different people

[myers]

yeah, i get that... but I'm not sure what kind of system there is at gate C..if theres any at all?! . if i was in the more contained queue area heading to entrance at B  it would have been ok...

[pie_and_a_pint]

It's all much of a muchness. If selfish twats push in, selfish twats push in.

If it helps, I've always gone in the east side. I much prefer Gate C because once you get to the top of the Hill of Death you can see the gate, if you're queueing it's through the campervan fields, and it's a nicer grassy path for pushing a sack truck. Gate B has a horrible, rocky, trolley-killing path in the run up to the gate and you end up queueing between metal barriers for ages. On the downside, getting out via Gate C is harder as you have to go back UP the Hill of Death...

Edited April 10, 2016 by pie_and_a_pint

[myers]

thanks, yes we actually left through gate C last year so i remember the hill ! haha, ... what time do you arrive if heading for gate C ? is it semi organised ?    the queue jumpers at B last year wasn't a few, it was literally hundreds an proper chaos in the end ! 

[Madyaker]

First timer here, there's 11 of us and were flying over from Ireland early on Wednesday morning and then getting a bus to the festival. How long are queues at the gates usually?

[musky]

1 hour ago, Madyaker said:

First timer here, there's 11 of us and were flying over from Ireland early on Wednesday morning and then getting a bus to the festival. How long are queues at the gates usually?

You'll be arriving at Gate A if you're coming by public transport. It's extremely variable how much of a queue you'll encounter, but if you're arriving 11-ish figure on maybe 30-40 minutes. Or walking straight in. 

[Madyaker]

We should be on site by about 1pm I reckon. Is it realistic to hope that we'd have found a camping spot with all of us together and have our tents up by Wednesday evening?

 

[musky]

Good lord yes! Basically the fields from Gate A round to South Park are less popular and will have space even for a large group. Take a look at www.glastomap.com to see the fields, and it also gives you an idea of the space available even when the festival is in full swing. 

[**claire**]

I've always preferred gate C to B as it just feels like less of a trek from the car parks, but I guess this is all relative to what car park you end up in - it feels to me like the queue moves slower to B though because people are herded through a narrower gap whereas the walk to C is wider & feels less jostled.

However I've only ever arrived at about 8am to the car parks, so not sure what to advise if you're coming in during the night.  

[myers]

thanks Claire.. i think i will try C ... it can't be any worse than last year at gate B 

[stardustjunkie]

I think every gate could encounter the same problem. As frustrating as it is, there's not much that can be done.

I queued at gate A a couple of years ago, happily joined the queue at about 7.30am to wait for the gates to open and not long after they opened, a coach load of people got off and made a beeline for the front of the queue. Not one steward questioned it, despite the obvious queue that everyone else was waiting in.

[whisty]

Any time I've been Gate b it's been a cattle crush because of pinch points. Just to say,  I've aimed for b and ended up at c and vice versa as you cannot choose which car park you get sent to so maybe depending on the time you arrive you'll have no choice of gate anyway. Unless you decide on a long walk with all your gear that is.

[stardustjunkie]

6 hours ago, Scruffylovemonster said:

Just in case you're not joking, Coaches get priority at gate a. 

I wasn't joking, but didn't clarify that I had also arrived by coach  As far as I could tell, everyone who got off a coach joined our queue apart from one coach that went straight to the front. It was a See coach just like the rest of us!

[musky]

6 hours ago, stardustjunkie said:

I wasn't joking, but didn't clarify that I had also arrived by coach  As far as I could tell, everyone who got off a coach joined our queue apart from one coach that went straight to the front. It was a See coach just like the rest of us!

I saw that happen a few years back. The problem is that there are pens set up for the departure, but no kind of signage and scant sign of stewards. So people being dropped off towards the Gate end of the coach park naturally make their way towards the queue only to find they're penned in and getting back out means walking back to where they started and then back round in the opposite direction to the gate. In the year I spotted this someone had taken the simple expedient of opening up the interlocking railings to get through (possibly at a time when a queue wasn't as much in evidence) which then left an easily accessible route for others. There was even an orderly queue forming for this shortcut, and most likely those at the back of that wouldn't have realised until they got near the front that this wasn't the route they were supposed to be taking.

Decent signage where the coaches drop off would cure this, or even a single steward to point out the error of peoples' ways and close the gaps in the railings. It would probably help if they didn't complete the pens to allow people who had accidentally wandered in to make their way to proper entrance to the queue without wandering all the way back to the coach park.

[stardustjunkie]

It would definitely benefit from more stewards.

It's annoying, particularly when you've queued for a long time, but there's really not much point in getting too fussed about it. We'll all get in eventually.  

[Robster86]

Anyone know what sort of time during the festival that the glastomap.com image was taken?

 

EDIT: Found it -- the 'about' tab wasn't working initially. 

Edited April 15, 2016 by Robster86

[p.pete]

On 4/10/2016 at 4:33 PM, myers said:

this is my 3 rd glastonbury.... have been through gate A before, that was ok,  but last year we were heading for big ground, so decided on gate B, arrived around 03.00am and joined the queue snaking around the top field .....it was ok until around 07.00-08.00am when everyone that had just arrived marched all the way to the front and caused chaos ! and long delays.. when finally in the more enclosed area off the queue heading towards the entrance lots off people i was talking to were in front off me in the queue and arrived at 08.00am! which pissed me off abit tbh! 

I'm heading for big ground again this year, but thinking off trying gate C , i don't mind queuing etc..and i will be arriving around 03.00am again.... as long as theres at least some kind of order ! and not a load of selfish idiots charging to the front !  any one with more experience that can advise or was that gate B farce last year a one off ? 

The queue into B never works, something always is either left unplanned or planning goes astray.  Always taken me ages to get through.

One time through C went smoothly, got round to big ground quickly once through the gate and seemed a great option - but sooo far away.  

I was in the same queue and was not fun.  I don't mind queueing - we were neatly lined up all the way round (car park 2/3?) - if it works first come first served.  As the car park filled further someone on a scooter decided it was time for people to bunch forward - I didn't mind at the time, things moving, seemed like someone was in charge.  But then things just went chaotic, any sense of organisation quickly vanished.